Messi told Barcelona he's leaving the club, and the soccer world lost it

Alright everyone, this might not be a drill.

According to reports from multiple journalists in Spain and Argentina, Lionel Messi sent a fax (!) to Barcelona on Tuesday informing the club that he intends to terminate his contract and leave this offseason. The club then confirmed they had received the fax.

This is just a request, and it’s unclear if Messi even will legally be allowed to opt out of his contract, but this has moved beyond the typical rumor fill fodder, and the soccer world is going nuts.

Quickly: As to whether or not Messi can actually opt out of his contract, it’s complicated. According to multiple reports, Messi had an option in his contract to opt out at the end of this season … which would normally have been in June, which was the original deadline to opt out. Coronavirus put a hold on this year’s season, however, including Champions League, so the Barcelona season didn’t end until August.

This is where things will get sticky if Messi does in fact push to opt out of his contract. Messi and his team will argue that he could opt out at the end of the season, which this year was in August. Barcelona could try to make the argument that he needed to express his intention to opt out in June, the original deadline.

Regardless, if the greatest player of all time is indeed heading to a new club, this will be absolutely bananas.